Who is at risk for developing mesothelioma?

Those who have worked directly with asbestos or asbestos products are most at risk of developing mesothelioma, however, mesothelioma has been reported in some individuals having minimal exposure.

Among the businesses at high risk of developing mesothelioma include:

•The carpenter iron (including shipbuilding)
•The builders of the vehicle chassis (including rail vehicles)
•Plumbers
•Gas Installers
•Carpenters
•Electricians
•Construction workers
•Plasterers
•Contractors
•DIY
•Steel fabricators
•Painters
•Sheet Metal
•Welders

Sign of mesothelioma

The main sign of mesothelioma is the effusion of fluid in the pleura, which causes pain and discomfort in breathing, this is called a pleural effusion or "pleurisy".
This symptom may nevertheless be found in other diseases such as lung infections. Knowing that the effects of asbestos may not manifest itself until several years later, the most important thing is to make a review when the lung is thought to have been exposed to asbestos, even long ago and for a short period

If you have or develop symptoms, consult your doctor

Pleural cancer (mesothelioma)

The pleura is a double flexible casing surrounding the lungs with a sheet on the side of the lungs, and a sheet on the side of the chest. During inspiration, the thoracic cavity enlarges. Thanks to the pleura, which acts as an interface, the lung also s'expand.

The pleura may be cancerous. In 50 to 70% of cases the cause is exposure to asbestos, often occupational (insulation, textiles, construction, filters). Tobacco is not an issue. Asbestos is a product completely natural. It is a silicate of iron, magnesium and calcium (a mineral so) that forms the flexible fibers, rot and fire resistant. It is found in large quantities, especially since Canada is the world's largest producer.

The most common uses are thermal insulation and soundproofing for fibers "amphibole" and the manufacture of cement for fiber "chrysotile." Inhaled, amphibole fibers strongly promote cancer of the pleura. However, this risk is disputed by producer countries for chrysotile fiber cement. On this point, the opinion of European experts is in favor of a probable risk (difficult to quantify because the incidence of mesothelioma is comparatively unimportant).

For the record, exposure to asbestos fibers can cause three types of diseases: pulmonary fibrosis (asbestosis), leading to progressive respiratory failure, lung cancer (but we know that smoking is a risk factor even larger than l 'asbestos) and cancer of the pleura or "mesothelioma.

Exposure to asbestos can sometimes be very brief and very old (up to 40 years). The number of cases of cancer of the pleura increases by 25% every three years!

Mesithelioma : To help you

To help you
Living with mesothelioma is not always an easy thing ...

THE CONTEXT

You and entourage have many problems and challenges. Your life will be made easier if you are properly informed. Doctors and other members of the medical team can direct you to agencies for assistance so you can find a moral, social and possibly financial.

Mesothelioma search and history

An article published by Wagner et al in 1960 established for the first time that mesothelioma is a disease resulting from exposure to asbestos in the form of crocidolite. Article list more than 30 cases of patients who experienced mesothelioma in South Africa including temporary exhibitions and cases involving minors.

In 1962 Dr McNulty reported the first case of malignant mesothelioma diagnosed the Australiechez a worker exposed to asbestos. The worker had worked in the mill at the asbestos mine Wittenoom from 1948 to 1950.

In the town of Wittenoom, waste packaging of asbestos from the mine have been recycled for coating schoolyards and playgrounds

In 1965 it was established in an article published in the British journal of occupational medicine that people who had lived in the neighborhood of factories and mining of asbestos, but without work, had contracted mesothelioma.

Despite evidence that the dust associated with operation of the mine and milling asbestos fibers was indeed the cause of diseases related to asbestos mining began at Wittenoom in 1943 continued until 1966.

It is difficult to understand why it has allowed the mine and mill first opened and continue to operate without appropriate measures to control risk, and why nothing was done to coerce the owner (CSR) to comply with standards, to adopt methods of work safer or terminate operations.

In 1974 the first public warnings about the dangers of blue asbestos were published in the Bulletin magazine in Australia as a bound book whose cover was called "the killer is there in your house?"

In 1978 the GovernmentWestern Australia decided to raze the town of Wittenoom, following the publication of a booklet of the health service, "the health risk at Wittenoom", containing the results of atmospheric sampling and evaluation of medical data available worldwide.

In 1979 the first complaints of neglect Wittenoom have been launched against CSR and its subsidiary ABA, and society of asbestos disease has been formed to represent the Wittenoom victims.

Mesothelioma Treatment

The mesothelioma treatment by conventional therapies has not proved effective and patients have a life median survival of 6 to 12 months after diagnosis.

The degree of malignancy of the tumor depends on several factors including the total mesothelial surface of the pleural cavity which promotes the importance of local metastasis via exfoliated cells, and invasion of underlying tissues and other organs in the pleural cavity. Another factor involved is the period of extremely long latency between asbestos exposure and disease development.

Mesothelioma Epidemiology

Although reported incidence rates have increased in the last 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer. The incidence is approximately one case per one million inhabitants. By comparison, populations with high levels of smoking can achieve the effect of over a thousand lung cancer per million inhabitants.

The incidence of malignant mesothelioma, currently at a level of about 7 to 40 cases per 1 000 000 inhabitants in Western industrialized nations, according to the importance of population exposure to asbestos during the past decades. It was estimated that the incidence in the United States could achieve a 15 per 1 000 000 inhabitants in 2004. It is expected that the incidence continues to grow in other parts of the world. Mesothelioma occurs more often in men than in women and risk increases with age, but this disease can appear in either men or women at any age. Approximately one fifth to one third of all mesotheliomas are peritoneal tumors.

It may be noted that an epidemic of mesothelioma was discovered in three Turkish villages (Karain, and tuzkoy Sarehidir) located in Cappadocia. it is now responsible for 50% of deaths there .

Mesothelioma Lung Definition

The occurrence of this disease, sometimes called Cancer of theAsbestos. This fiber is the main risk factor known for this type of cancer is not indicative of a minimum threshold of exposure and medical treatment has a limited impact on the life expectancy of patients, generally 12 to 18 months.

The first signs found on clinical examination are chest pain, often associated with breathlessness and recurrent pleural effusion, usually bleeding. The latency between first exposure and the development of mesothelioma is seldom less than 20 years, often around 30 to 40 years or more. It does not seem to exist a threshold value of exposure in relation to risk of onset.

He described cases of pleural mesothelioma occurring in the family environment close to the workers exposed to asbestos, subjects were exposed due to contamination of residential premises or during maintenance of dusty clothes.

The Tobacco does not appear to increase the risk of developing mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma information

The mesothelioma is a rare and virulent Cancer surfaces affects the mesothelial lining lungs (the pleura), The abdominal cavity (the peritoneum) Or envelope heart (the pericardium). Mesothelioma Lung is caused by exposure to mineral fibers.

Current studies do not confirm the relationship between exposure to theasbestosis and the development of peritoneal mesothelioma although recent data appear to establish, especially in men.

Some have been exposed to their work, others secondarily by family members who, unwittingly, have reduced fiber to the home of their work in their clothes or their hair or their skin.